cmm

## Setting Up and Using Probes: Introduction

To measure your part with your CMM, you need to properly define the probe to use for your measurements. You define your probe by choosing the hardware components that make up the entire probing mechanism. These are the probe head, wrists, extensions, and specific probe tips. Once defined, you can then calibrate pre-defined tip angles to measure various features on your part. The tip calibration process allows PC-DMIS to know where the probe tip is in your coordinate system in relation to your part and your machine.

Once you define your probes and the probe tips are calibrated, use the LOAD/PROBE and LOAD/TIP commands in your measurement routine to use the calibrated tip angles in your routine's measurements.

To define and calibrate your probes, see the following topics:

- Defining Probes

- Calibrating Probe Tips

For additional information about defining and calibrating probes, see "Understanding the Probe Utilities Dialog Box" in the "Defining Hardware" chapter in the PC-DMIS Core documentation.

Once you are done with the calibration, see "Using Different Probe Options" for information about using the probe in Offline and Online modes.